


To Offer Condolences

by orphan_account



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 07:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5997493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The toll of killing Han Solo was greater than expected... <br/>[“Then why have you come at all?!”</p>
<p>Spline inhibited his foresight, a retort was impulsively forced out of General Hux.</p>
<p>“To offer my condolences,”   </p>
<p>Something malignant shone in Kylo Ren’s eyes, and Hux knew he should have bitten his tongue, “...For your loss,”]</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Offer Condolences

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fan fic for Star Wars and I haven't seen the previous six movies right the way through so I'm sorry if any of my factoids are incorrect >

General Hux’s heartbeat was uneven and it affected his stride. Unlike in the mighty halls of Starkiller base, Hux’s footsteps didn’t echo here. The remaining command staff had been strung together and pushed onto an unfavourable cargo vessel. A skeleton crew made the ship limp toward the rendezvous point with Supreme Leader Snoke. Their _delayed_ escape from the crumbling Starkiller base had left their vessel vulnerable. They couldn’t outrun the aftershock of the erupting planet and when the wave of heat and devastation struck their vessel it hit hard, flinging them like a toy boat in a bathtub. The blast had disabled their warp drive and auxiliary power flowed in at just a trickle. 

General Hux was dishevelled by concern, but he made the time to leave the bridge and pay a visit to the reason for their late departure. If not for Kylo Ren they may have made it out ahead of the blast. 

The doorway to the improvised medical bay was guarded by Captain Phasma. No one had asked her to stand guard, she’d done so out of an inbuilt sense of responsibility. As ever she was prideful in her duties, even if her appearance suggested she’d become spiritless. Her armour was dulled and stains blotted her cape. An odd, acerbic stench lingered faintly around her, heavily overlaid with perfume, but the smell of waste persisted. General Hux hadn’t been apprised of the full story, but he supposed the events of the Resistance’s invasion took responsibility for the hardly notable stoop in Phasma posture.

When she heard Hux’s boots thump the ground the crease in her spine was ironed out. 

“Sir,” she greeted.

“You’re dismissed,” General Hux was hardly surprised that she hesitated, but he appeared slightly displeased with her deviance. Immediately, Phasma reconsidered her pause and with a nod she departed. Her gallant stride carried her past Hux. She took the unsavoury smell with her. 

The ‘medical bay’ used to be a cargo hold that just happened to house the ship’s first aid kit. The room was deep, draughty, General Hux paused for a moment outside and steeled himself before marching into the room.

“You’re awake,”

Kylo Ren’s bed was adjacent to the window. He was propped up with pillows and when he turned his head General Hux paused and stared. 

“I was never asleep,” said Kylo Ren in a voice that was unusual: softly spoken. General Hux absorbed Kylo’s present state without being too obvious, most of Kylo’s face had disappeared under heavy bandages that were wound so tightly that they squashed his nose and squeezed the blood out of his cheeks. Kylo’s left eye had sunken into his skull, swallowed up by grotesque, purple flesh. Overall, his skin was yellow, this was made obvious by the contrast of the stark, white bandages that continued to wind down his body like a partly formed chrysalis.

“But you were delirious. Although, I should suppose delusions are something you’re accustomed to coping with,” General Hux squeezed his hands behind his back and pushed out his chest. 

Kylo Ren looked beyond tired and his eyes were watery. 

“Is everything running so smoothly that you can make time to insult me?” he hissed. Obviously, the part of Kylo Ren that doled out remarks was presently unavailable and Hux was ill-equipped to handle sincerity. 

The act of fortifying himself before entering the room proved worthless. A sleepless night added to the enormity of their combined failings made General Hux’s temper short.

“Everything is _not_ running smoothly and it’s because of you!” The pressure in Hux’s body became white behind his knuckles. A sudden flare-up of stress snapped at him. The state of Kylo Ren and the state of their First Order: years of scraping together an empire had been stripped from them in a _day._ Even though he’d accepted that with his title came the crushing embarrassment of taking responsibility, Hux was still desperate for someone to blame. He was angry. They were on the cusp of having it all and they lost it. He was more than angry. Beneath the tight skin tension had pulled smooth over his cheek bones, Hux was distraught…and it appeared he wasn’t the only one, although he was too consumed to see. 

Kylo Ren looked out of the window. He drew the bedclothes higher around his body. General Hux vibrated and breathed heavily through his nose. Being ignored spoiled his patience entirely. 

“The fleet is scattered, our resources are destroyed… It took us decades to build the First Order and it was taken away from is in a day because _you,_ with all your ability, thought a _scavenger_ was more valuable than a _droid carrying the exact map to_ ** _Luke Skywalker!”_** As the levels of stress in General Hux’s voice rose, so did the volume. The ringing of his voice echoed around the room.

Kylo Ren’s fists curled in the bedsheets. His silence persisted. 

“ _Say something, Ren!”_

“My lightsaber, where is it?” 

General Hux bared his teeth. 

“Why do you need it?” 

There was no threat aboard the vessel. The Republic and the Resistance were so satisfied with their job that they didn’t consider a smattering of disbanded First Order troops worth pursuing. 

“Because it’s mine and I want it,” 

Ironically, by now they should have learned that getting what they wanted was never an easy endeavour. 

“ I have it, but not with me,” General Hux thought he should put Kylo Ren’s mind to rest before he split his stitches. 

“Will you go and get it?”

“I’m not your slave.”

“Then why have you come at all?!”

Spline inhibited his foresight, a retort was impulsively forced out of General Hux. 

“To offer my condolences,”

Something malignant shone in Kylo Ren’s eyes, and Hux knew he should have bitten his tongue, “...For your loss,” he exhumed Kylo Ren’s temper. In a flash, Kylo Ren’s arm swung out and the Force brought General Hux careening forward. He moved as if weightless and felt the air gust against his ears. Suddenly, he was yanked downward and Kylo Ren squeezed on Hux’s collar. The thin satin of his shirt peeled off Hux clammy skin and shivers danced through his chest. 

Kylo Ren stared at him, but without his mask and heavy-fibre garb, Ren appeared smaller and his bleached skin was beaded with a film of sweat. As much as he wanted to inspire respect through fear, in his condition, there was nothing intimidating about him. 

If Hux desired, he could jerk back and snap free of Kylo’s weak hand, instead, he chose to let Kylo cling to him and twist the fabric of his shirt.

“What gives you the right?” Kylo Ren sneered. Using Hux as leverage, Ren heaved them closer together and General Hux snatched Kylo’s wrist. In the bed, Kylo Ren jerked. The angle of his body put a strain on the abrasions cutting into his side and his breathing turned shallow. 

“Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, he _was_ your father.”

Perhaps Kylo Ren was not as powerless as General Hux had assumed. The presence of the Force throbbed around them and it was threatening. 

“And what would you know about fathers?!” Kylo spat. 

“Enough to know that they leave a lasting impression. And you killed yours. If you thought that would liberate you, think again.”

Kylo writhed, his weight hung from Hux’s collar and brought Hux forward again. 

“He was an obstacle. If I am to be what the First Order needs me to be then I …I had to…I had to,” 

Pity rose in Hux, but it was burned to cinders quickly. He looked on Kylo Ren with disdain. As his shirt was tugged on as weak persuasion, Hux slapped Kylo’s clingy hand aside. 

“Look at yourself!” Hux snapped. Both hands moved to Kylo’s face. His gloves squeaked against Kylo’s damp skin, “Do you think Snoke would tolerate you like this?” He tugged on Kylo’s head. Twisting Kylo’s face upward, Hux made a point of meeting Kylo’s aching eyes when Kylo was determined to avoid him. 

“I feel worse now than I did before…” Kylo blinked, twice. On the second blink, his eyes stayed closed and his bottom lip curled beneath his front teeth. General Hux observed every twitch of turmoil pulling on Kylo Ren’s face and the clutch of his finger tips biting into Ren’s cheeks became less controlling. Around them, the Force’s palpable energy wobbled: an exhibit of frailty. 

“Of course you do.” Hux’s chest sunk, “You’re grieving.” 

After his breath hitched, Kylo Ren’s head hit Hux’s middle with a thump. It winded Hux slightly and the mess of Kylo’s hair left a greasy stain on his shirt. 

Hux vaguely indulged the whim and the awful, snivelling sounds Kylo made. He slid his fingers against Kylo’s scalp and closed his hand around the knots in Kylo’s hair, breathing in the smell of an unwashed body. 

But as Kylo started to lift his hands and clutch at Hux’s shirt, such comforts were in danger of becoming sincere. 

“No,” Hux muttered and Kylo also made a sound of denial. Hux had to pry Kylo’s fingers off his clothes and squeezed Kylo’s hair when Kylo dared to put up a fight. 

“ _Ahh,_ ” Kylo winced. His eyes cracked open and they were now red. Hux’s expression was stiff. He didn’t let his sympathy betray him. 

“Get a hold of yourself.”

“Did you come here just make me feel like a child?!” 

“You chose to behave like one. I told you why I came here, it was to be civil.”

Distraught, Ren barked bitterly.

“You came here to satisfy yourself!” and he beat his fists furiously against the bed. 

“And you wonder I wouldn’t trust you with a lightsaber.” 

Kylo Ren’s hand launched upward again, aimed at Hux’s throat. Reflexively, General Hux’s body tightened and he threw his head back, but the strangulation he feared was nothing but a weak touch. 

“For your sake, Ren, don’t let Snoke see you like this.”

“Get. Out.” Kylo Ren seethed. His jaw was tightly set and Hux had the sense to acknowledge he’d been granted leniency for his perceived impertinence. With a rigid not, he complied. 

“I will send for Captain Phasma to retake her position.”

“ _Hnng,_ ”

General Hux didn’t think the grunt was worth acknowledging. He was keen to leave the room while his windpipe remained intact. But the thought did occurred to him and lingered with him as he marched back to the bridge: why _had_ he bothered visiting?

**Author's Note:**

> My Tumblr is bammshee.tumblr.com if you'd like to chat headcanons :D


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